‘Under One Roof’ strikes emotional chord with honest portrait of Malaysian Indian family
TAMIL music drifts softly from a radio as Mala prepares breakfast in the kitchen. She chops vegetables while the rest of the family slowly stirs awake, conversations flowing naturally between English and Tamil.
The scene feels instantly familiar to anyone who has grown up in a Malaysian Indian household, and that familiarity is one of the quiet strengths of Under One Roof.
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Written and directed by Fa Abdul and produced by Big Nose Productions, the play centres on Mala, who leaves her husband after discovering his infidelity and raises their three children alone.
Decades later, the family is forced to confront long-buried decisions, with each member holding a different version of the same past.
Staged at Komtar’s Auditorium A over the weekend of June 26 to 28, the 100-minute performance held the audience captivated throughout.
Several lines drew spontaneous applause, including: “There are no clean choices. Only honest ones”, “Weak men like you create strong mothers like me”, and “God never promised happiness. God promises strength.”
The eldest son’s wife, Eileen, is Chinese and speaks a little Tamil. Fa said she wrote the character this way to reflect the multicultural reality of places such as Penang.
Lauren Tan, who plays Eileen, has relatively few lines, instead building the character through physicality and presence.
She moves around the house in slippers, sits with her feet tucked beneath her and carries herself with an ease that makes her feel like part of the family.
Traditional gender roles quietly shape the household. The women cook, fold laundry and keep the home running, while expectations remain firmly rooted in old patterns. The eldest son expects his mother to prepare his meals and bring him water.
When Mala speaks of working, he objects. Journalist Susan Loone, who attended the play, said although the production is set within a typical Malaysian Indian family setting, it makes a conscious effort to “challenge gender stereotypes”.
“The women on stage – mother, daughter, daughter-in-law – all appear to support one another.
“For example, Eileen understood why her mother-in-law took her children away when the dad was unfaithful. “She spoke up against her hubby, urging him to consider his mom’s point of view,” she said, adding that such dynamics are rare in an Asian setting.
Fa said her favourite scene brings together Mala, her daughter Priya and Eileen after a painful family revelation. The conversation touches on regret, betrayal, marriage and motherhood.
“There are no raised voices, no accusations, just three women giving one another the rare gift of complete honesty. They are never asked to judge. They are asked to understand.”
Fa said she believes everyone needs people who challenge assumptions, offer perspectives we may never have considered, and hold space without rushing to decide who is right or wrong.
“To me, that is what family at its best can be. Not a place where difficult conversations are avoided, but a place where they are welcomed with honesty, compassion and the courage to truly listen,” she said.
Drawing from her own lived experience, she said she often wondered whether leaving an unhappy marriage cost her children the childhood they deserved.
“One day, one of my children said: ‘I wish there was a family home I could return to, where my childhood bedroom was still waiting for me.’
“It caught me off guard because I had spent years believing I had given them a happy and secure life.
“It made me realise that even within the same family, we don’t remember the same story. One person remembers sacrifice. Another remembers loss.”
Audience members were equally moved. Commodities writer Alysha Salim said she would “gladly pay double” to watch the production again, while Rajita Majumdar, a corporate communications executive at a research organisation, rated the play nine out of 10.
Writer Munira Noor Mazlan, who was also present, described the show as “an intense and immersive play about a woman’s difficult decision that challenges outdated mentalities around shame, cultural and patriarchal expectations placed on women”.
“It serves as the necessary reminder that we should be speaking about the realities of family dynamics more openly and with more grace. A great watch!” she said.
Asked what she hopes audiences would take away from Under One Roof, Fa said: “I hope audiences leave Under One Roof with a little more empathy for the people they call family.
“I don’t think healing comes from agreeing on what happened. I think it begins when we make space for one another’s memories, even when they differ from our own.”
On whether Under One Roof would be made available online, Fa said no. “It will lose its appeal.”
However, she added that she would consider offers from producers interested in staging the production in Kuala Lumpur.
The cast includes Monica Mohan as matriarch Mala, or Amma, Suresh Ramskay as eldest son Prabhu, Arunen Thiruvarul as younger son Pravin, Tasnim Meera as daughter Priya and Nicholas Fletcher as former husband Prasad. The production was supported by the Penang government.
